


can’t trust the air you breathe

by trite



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, Pre-Relationship, Somebody Lives/Not Everyone Dies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-30
Updated: 2021-01-30
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:48:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28477158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/trite/pseuds/trite
Summary: Of all the indignities Hux had suffered in the past day, he was choosing to focus on this one.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Armitage Hux
Comments: 12
Kudos: 31
Collections: Hoelidays Gift Exchange 2021





	can’t trust the air you breathe

**Author's Note:**

  * For [partialresonance](https://archiveofourown.org/users/partialresonance/gifts).



Of all the indignities Hux had suffered in the past day — or year, maybe — he was choosing to focus on this one.

Hux glared at the trees that were sheltering him from the burning, brilliant golden sun overhead but that were simultaneously raining tiny pink petals down on him. He shook his head and more flowers fell down from his hair, leaving a sticky, yellow residue behind.

He angrily swiped at his nose and eyes again, knowing the gesture probably made him look like a petulant child, but not being able to deal with just letting his eyes freely _leak_ while he was surrounded by peace-loving Rebels who might have thought he was crying, or mourning or having some sort emotion.

"What is wrong with you?" Dameron asked, his usual level of tact and familiarity on display.

Hux wasn't in the mood for Dameron's mockery masquerading as kindness. He looked away, even if that meant staring directly at the sun. "I have allergies. It's this nowhere jungle planet I am stuck in. It's not my fault."

Dameron frowned. "Why would I blame you for having allergies?" He reached out and picked a petal from Hux's hair, pressing it between his thumb and index finger before letting it fall to the ground, discarded. "And anyway, would you prefer to be in the _Steadfast_ 's wreckage? I'm happy to take you back there, wounded leg and all."

" _Also_ not my fault. And wouldn't taking me back there undermine the heroics you perform to sate your need for external validation?"

Hux's words had the opposite effect than he had intended and Dameron not only laughed but came closer, sitting down next to Hux on the narrow tree stump. It made Hux hyperaware of their proximity, but he refused to move. He had been there first.

"I don't feel particularly validated by you. Not that I would want to." After an all-too-brief moment of quiet, Dameron added, "why haven't you gone to the medbay? To get something for your allergies?"

Hux turned his face in the opposite direction, feeling embarrassed by having to do this in front of Dameron, and rubbed his eyes with the sleeve of his greatcoat. He was burning inside it but he also refused to remove it, lest it be taken from him. It was childish to be attached to a piece of clothing, to an object, but the barely held together weakness in his chest had latched itself onto whatever evidence of familiarity it had found.

"I don't want to be administered poison. By accident, I'm sure," Hux hoped his congested nose didn't ruin the intended mocking tone of his words.

"I didn't go through all the trouble of saving you just to immediately poison you."

More flowers shook loose from the tree, picking the words _saving you_ to fall heavily on Hux. For a moment, it felt as if their weight could have sunk him to the muddy ground.

"You're bidding your time, then? You'll do it at a later point?"

Dameron looked at him intently for an uncomfortable moment and said, "you're safe here. From poisoning and everything else."

"What does 'everything else' entail?" Hux couldn't see past this moment. For once, he didn't have a plan and hadn't come up with a way to stay ten steps ahead. He wanted clarity in whatever small way he could get it.

"All the fucked up stuff you were used to in the Order. It has to look different, you know? The future. That's what we fought the war for. Not to defeat all evil, but to change the conditions that allowed it to exist and warp so many lives." Dameron said the last words pointedly, as if he could will them to become something tangible in the short distance separating them.

Hux blinked rapidly and, when that had no effect, dug the heels of his palms against his eyes, pressed against them until he could focus on that hurt instead.

Dameron was good at it, Hux thought. Good at presenting his vision with the right amount of conviction to sway but not too much mania to alienate. He seemed to have more sincerity and charm than many politicians Hux had had the misfortune of dealing with. He almost convinced Hux. Almost.

"And you think you'll be able to do that?" It came out less disbelieving that Hux had intended. As if Dameron's earnestness was contagious, dangerous outside of a properly quarantined body.

"I think I can try. I also think I'm not the only one willing to try. There will be others working toward a better future." Dameron paused, for dramatic effect certainly, all the better to disarm Hux. "I think you could be one of those people. If you wanted to, there would be room for you."

"Are you speaking for everyone else as well?"

"No, I'm speaking for myself. I'm saying that I would make room for you. If you wanted."

Hux tried to say something. _I don't. I'm not some cause you can use to further your heroic legend_ maybe, but instead felt his eyes leaking, his throat closing up, and heard himself _sniffle_.

"Okay, you look too pitiful for me to just do nothing. Come on, let's go to the medbay. I'll stick around and make sure no one wastes our secret stash of poison on you," Dameron said.

"There are actual injured people there." It came out in a rush, panicked. Another indignity.

Dameron stared at him, a soft expression crossing his features for a moment before he looked away and turned to look at the vast, humid jungle, at the curve of the sun in the distance. He sighed. "There's a tea everyone around the base swears by." He cringed a little and added apologetically, "it's a little on the sweet side."

"I don't mind sweet." He winced but Dameron didn't comment. What he had meant to say was that he could endure it, if there were no other options around.

"I can make you some if you're willing to try it. It might be different from what you're used to, though."

It was going to be weird, but it probably wasn't going to kill him. "I'll try it."


End file.
